Everyone knows who the Duggars are, don’t you? You should. They are the clan (and I do mean clan) of 19 children, and a few grandchildren, that have made a career out of being big (i.e a large family from one womb) and Christian. They have their very own reality TV show that showcases their big family and their Christian values.
I was reading in the paper today a short review of the new season for the show. (disclaimer: I’ve never watched it and really have no intention of doing so, unless armed intruders tie me up and force me to). That review mentioned that it’s a very pro-Christian show, for people who complain that TV tends to be anti-Christian. Having watched multiple seasons of 7th Heaven with my children, not to mention re-runs of the re-runs, I have to say that I’ve never noticed any “anti-Christian” bias on TV.
He also mentioned that TV is a very big tent, with something for everyone, and I tend to agree. You want to watch Satanic rituals, you can probably find them on some obscure cable channel. Christianity is all over the place, as is just about every other lifestyle and religion. TV is a cultural melting pot (though I am waiting for the atheist sit-com, the Will and Grace of non-belief. I’m not holding my breath though.)
Human life is a very “Big Tent” though. We have the ability to tolerate any idea, any lifestyle, any cultural advance (or decline) imaginable. There’s room for everyone.
It’s why I have no problem personally with the Duggars. They want to stretch her uterus till it pops, and can handle the emotional and financial responsibilities of raising a family that size, more power to them. I couldn’t handle it myself, and would not suggest doing so to anyone else. Clearly, people like the Duggars are in the minority. So in one sense, their lifestyle is almost admirable, bucking up against many current cultural conventions and schools of thought, not to mention medical warnings. If they ended up on welfare, I might be a bit more critical. But they handle it, so who am I to criticize?
In a broader sense, I also have no problem with people espousing what they call family values. Live the life you think is right, just don’t be hypocritical about it, and I have no problem with you. However, where I have a problem is when these so-called family values are used as a dog whistles to advocate hatred for people with differing sexual identities, or to repress women by not allowing them to do what they want with their own bodies. That’s where I draw the line.
Take your “family values” and live them in your home? That’s OK.
Take these same “family values” and tell others how to live them in their homes? Shove them up your ass.
There are no universal family values, and to try to impose some standard on others is wrong. There are potential global population problems if you start importing these ideas indiscriminately. But for me to tell Michelle Duggar that she can’t use her reproductive organs as she chooses would be just as hypocritical as Michelle Duggar telling a woman she could not have an abortion.
Besides, statistically, she’s already produced somewhere between 1 and 3 future atheists, and that’s a good thing.
SPANISH INQUISITOR 